Switzerland participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 with the song "In Love for a While" written by David Klein. The song was performed by Anna Rossinelli. The Swiss entry for the 2011 contest in Düsseldorf, Germany was selected through the national final Die grosse Entscheidungs Show 2011, organised by the Swiss German speaking broadcaster Schweizer Fernsehen (SF) in collaboration with the other broadcasters part of SRG SSR idée suisse. SF, SF's radio station DRS 3, the Swiss-French broadcaster Télévision Suisse Romande (TSR) and the Swiss-Italian broadcaster Radiotelevisione svizzera (RSI) each conducted varying selections and a total of twelve entries were selected to advance to the televised national final—seven artists and songs from the SF selection, three from the DRS 3 selection, one from the TSR selection and one from the RSI selection. The twelve finalists performed during the national final on 11 December 2010 where public voting ultimately selected "In Love for a While" performed by Anna Rossinelli as the winner.
Switzerland was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 10 May 2011. Performing during the show in position 8, "In Love for a While" was announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 14 May. This marked the second time Switzerland managed to qualify to the final, which they achieved after six years since 2005. It was later revealed that Switzerland placed tenth out of the 19 participating countries in the semi-final with 55 points. In the final, Switzerland performed in position 13 and placed twenty-fifth (last) out of the 25 participating countries, scoring 19 points.
Background
Prior to the 2011 contest, Switzerland had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest fifty-one times since its first entry in 1956. Switzerland is noted for having won the first edition of the Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Refrain" performed by Lys Assia. Their second and, to this point, most recent victory was achieved in 1988 when Canadian singer Céline Dion won the contest with the song "Ne partez pas sans moi". Following the introduction of semi-finals for the , Switzerland had managed to participate in the final two times up to this point. In 2005, the internal selection of Estonian girl band Vanilla Ninja, performing the song "Cool Vibes", qualified Switzerland to the final where they placed 8th. Due to their successful result in 2005, Switzerland was pre-qualified to compete directly in the final in 2006. Since 2007, the nation failed to qualify to the final with a string of internal selections. In 2010, Switzerland earned one of their lowest results of all-time, with Michael von der Heide and his song "Il pleut de l'or" placing last in their semi-final earning only 2 points.
The Swiss national broadcaster, SRG SSR idée suisse, broadcasts the event within Switzerland and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. SRG SSR idée suisse confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest on 1 September 2010. Along with their participation confirmation, the broadcaster also announced that the Swiss entry for the 2011 contest would be selected through a national final for the first time since 2004 due to increased popularity for Eurovision in Switzerland after victories for Norway and Germany. Switzerland has selected their entry for the Eurovision Song Contest through both national finals and internal selections in the past. Between 2005 and 2010, the Swiss entry was internally selected for the competition.
Before Eurovision
Die grosse Entscheidungs Show 2011
Die grosse Entscheidungs Show 2011 was the first edition of the Swiss national final format that selected Switzerland's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2011. The national final was a collaboration between four broadcasters in Switzerland: the Swiss-German broadcaster Schweizer Fernsehen (SF), the radio station from SF DRS 3, the Swiss-French broadcaster Télévision Suisse Romande (TSR) and the Swiss-Italian broadcaster Radiotelevisione svizzera (RSI). The show took place on 11 December 2010 at the Bodensee Arena in Kreuzlingen, hosted by Sven Epiney and was televised on SRF 1, RSI La 2 and TSR 2. The competition was also broadcast via radio on DRS 3.